Victoria Wickman, President of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (NYSTLA), attended a benefit dinner for New Yorkers Against Gun Violence on Tuesday alongside House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman Dan Goldman. The event united policymakers, advocates, and community leaders to discuss the pressing need for comprehensive gun reform in New York and beyond.
In her remarks, Wickman urged Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Grieving Families Act, a proposed reform aimed at updating the state’s outdated wrongful death law.
“Governor Hochul needs to sign the Grieving Families Act so that families of those killed by gun violence can obtain justice,” she said. “She needs to sign it so that New York courts can hold gun manufacturers and marketers accountable for the grief, suffering and mayhem they cause. We brought tobacco companies to justice when they spiked their product with extra nicotine,” Wickman said. “We brought opioid companies to face juries when they maxed the potency of their product knowing that mass addiction would follow. And now, we are proud to join hands with families, with heroes, like the Yambo’s, and call for accountability for gun manufacturers.”
According to the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, many gun violence cases are also wrongful death cases.
Yanely Henriquez, the mother of 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo, who was killed by a ghost gun in 2021 in the Bronx, said, “Gov. Hochul, you must sign the Grieving Families Act, allow us to bring wrongful death claims against the manufacturers of these dangerous, untraceable weapons, and deliver long-awaited justice. I will do anything – until I stop breathing – to fight for my daughter, to hold ghost gun manufacturers accountable, to make New York safer and to end the slaughter of innocent children like my Angellyh.”
“We are honored to have Congressmen Jeffries and Goldman – who have been instrumental in passing New York’s strongest gun laws, keeping our state at the forefront of legislative solutions to gun violence – here tonight,” said New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Executive Director Rebecca Fischer. “We thank the New York State Trial Lawyers Association for their advocacy, and the Yambo family, heroes in the fight against gun violence.”
“Gun violence prevention is one of the defining issues of the moment,” said Leader Jeffries. “America has 4% of the world’s population but more than 40% of the world’s guns, and gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in our nation. It is a tragedy that in a country as great as ours, we have allowed these weapons of war to flood our streets. In the last four years, House and Senate Democrats have provided more than $125 million for gun violence prevention research, but it remains a top priority for us to match the urgency of this moment and pass common sense background check legislation, pass safe storage legislation and ban assault weapons.”
“As the leading cause of death of children in America, gun violence has torn apart far too many families and communities across our country,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “I am honored to work alongside dedicated partners like New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association in the fight to put an end to the gun violence epidemic. While we work to ensure our communities are safe from violence, the work they do to care for gun violence survivors and bring justice to their families is invaluable.”
